The
argument of the collection, “poems about YouTube videos,” is reminiscent of the
anthology Dinosaur Porn [see my review of such here], with the argument/prompt that sparked the project
seemingly as random, but for the fact that the Ferno House anthology had
submissions that were much further “out there” than the poems collected here.
Wright, an emerging poet herself, appears to favour a particular flavour of the
short, observational lyric, one that would fit very much in that space where
the editorial visions of publishing houses Vehicule Press, Nightwood Editions,
ECW Press and Wolsak and Wynn might meet. Along those same lines is E. Martin
Nolan’s Poems From Still, a
collection of short, meditative lyrics that weave through a gentle pacing. His
poems reference hurricanes, including Katrina, and the resulting damage left
behind. Nolan’s poems are thoughtful and empathetic, and centred very solidly
in concrete facts and situations.

KATRINA
FAR AWAY

I

In Detroit, on TV, they
show the storm after.

It goes on, moves
north, still the shape it was.

In Ohio they read of
it,

how it’s coming there,

feeding that recently
droughted land.

In Katrina’s rain the
small hard flowers

of Ohio’s weeds rejoice.

II
IN OHIO

The man turns from the
window, the same

rain hard on the window
he’s stopped at

to see the storm die
over land.

The woman on the stairs
stops.

She holds folded
clothes.

III

A: To get the real
Taino god

of the storm take the
wooden face

carved into mid-scream,
face the storm

and forget any carved
wood.

What
appeals about this press, apart from the strong work and the graceful design,
is in seeing how they work to engage with their immediate, local community, and
producing work by numerous poets, many of whom haven’t yet made a name for
themselves. There is much here worth paying attention to.